Gossip Girl By Cecily Von Ziegesar

The fictional two-hundred paged book Gossip Girl is written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The book was published in May of 2002. The setting of this story is taken place in New York City's Upper East Side during the fall in 2001.

The story begins with Blair Waldorf attending a party at her house with her friends Kati Farkas and Isabel Coates. Soon after, Blair sneaks away from the party to her bedroom in order to have sex with her boyfriend, Nate Archibald. However, they are interrupted (an occurrence that happens several times throughout the series) by the arrival of Serena van der Woodsen, Blair's old friend who left one year ago to attend boarding school.

When Serena was around, Blair was always left in her shadow, so when she returned Blair was not particularly thrilled to see her. Especially when Blair finds out that Serena and Nate had sex the summer before Serena left. Serena does not understand why she is being ignored by all of her friends. Also all throughout the book, Gossip Girl, a popular blog site written by a girl whom many visit, spreads around rumors or gossip about this group.
Blair Waldorf was born to high society on Manhattan's exclusive Upper East Side is a hopeless romantic who idolizes Audrey Hepburn, Blair's sensitive side contrasts with her tendency to be devilish and controlling.
She is rather vain, though her friendship with Serena van der Woodsen causes her to be insecure at times. She has a turbulent relationship with Nate Archibald. Blair uses her charm, money, and social clout to get whatever she
wants.

Serena van der Woodsen is described as being very beautiful, with long blond hair and navy blue eyes. She was the It girl of Constance Billiard and the talk of Manhattan. Being the It girl of the Upper East Side, she is constant fodder to the rumor mill. Serena's older sibling Erik, whom she is fairly close to, is a student at Brown University. Serena and Blair were best friends since childhood, but Blair was always in Serena's shadow. Then, in the summer of tenth grade, Serena has sex with Blair's then-boyfriend Nate Archibald while Blair is in Scotland for her aunt's wedding. However, Blair doesn't find out until a year later. That fall, Serena goes to boarding school, making Blair the new it girl (which doesn't make Blair miss her at all). Then Serena comes back a year later for unknown reasons, again getting all the attention and making Blair jealous. Then, as Blair is about to have sex with Nate for the first time, Nate confesses he slept with Serena. Blair ends the relationship with him, and with Serena.

Nate Archibald is the boy that every girl wants. Only Nate isn't sure which girl he wants. He is the on again, off again boyfriend of Blair Waldorf, but Nate has something of a wandering eye. And more than once, it's wandered over to Serena. Like Serena and Blair, Nate is wealthy and attractive. Dan Humphrey is A thin, sensitive, chain-smoking, caffeine-addicted poet who often sees the darker side to things and has said his favorite word is "death". Dan is a romantic whose imagination runs off wildly at the worst times. He over-analyzes and is easily frustrated. He is romantically linked to Vanessa Abrams, who appears to be the love of his life, but he hasn't always been the best boyfriend. Prior to his relationship with Vanessa, he spent two years being in love with Serena van der Woodsen. He has a very close relationship with his sister, Jenny and his father Rufus.

Jenny Humphrey at age 14, Jenny is the youngest of the characters. She is the younger sister of Dan Humphrey. Jenny is an aspiring artist and holds a secret desire to be a model like Serena van der Woodsen, whom she eventually befriends. She often tries to fit in with the rich girls at her school, even though she does not hold a place in their social sphere.

Chuck Bass is a rich, lust-driven antagonist whose list of the finer things in life is short: sex and alcohol. He once came close to taking advantage of a vulnerable Jenny Humphrey in a bathroom and tried to sleep with an inebriated Serena van der Woodsen. Nobody is certain about his sexual orientation. Chuck has an obnoxious pet monkey named Sweetie, who can often be found perching on his shoulder and wearing, coordinated outfits. Everyone, quite frankly, despises him, but because his bank account and good looks.

This book should be recommended to any teenage girl, six-teen and up, because it has everything that girls like to read about. It has romance, suspense, drama, and some pretty good girl fights. I think that it is not appropriate for younger teens because it has a lot of things that they aren't even going through yet, and if they tried to read it they would be confused.

I really liked this book because it was written from a female's point of view the whole time. Even though the characters changed it was still written very well and understanding. I never thought that the series would be good. But it was recommended by a classmate who said that it was good, she was right. I really enjoyed this book